Every week, countless stories and news emerge in the tennis world that don’t always make headlines but are too intriguing to overlook. These can be on-court or off-court developments that go under the radar due to bigger storylines from the past week. Three stories are featured in this edition, including Stefanos Tsitsipas and Angelique Kerber.
Tennis News Weekly Roundup
Angelique Kerber to Become the New Bad Homburg Tournament Director
Former world No.1 and three-time Grand Slam champion, Angelique Kerber will become the new tournament director at the Bad Homburg Open, a WTA 500 tournament played on grass in Bad Homburg, Germany. Kerber retired from tennis last year and was a great player on grass, making this a great decision from the tournament. Kerber is also a former champion at this tournament in 2021, making this extra special.
This year’s edition features a strong field of players, including world No.2 Iga Swiatek, a former semifinalist. The Bad Homburg Open is a particularly important tournament because it takes place a week before Wimbledon, giving players the ideal preparation for the Grand Slam.
Stefanos Tsitsipas Becomes Only the 10th Player to achieve this feat
Stefanos Tsitsipas finally overcame his 11 match losing streak in ATP 500 finals, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Acapulco final. With this result, Tsitsipas has become only the 10th player to have won every ATP level tournament (250, 500, 1000, and ATP Finals). The other players to achieve this feat are Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian, Andy Murray, Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner.
The racquet change has brought out the best in Tsitsipas’ game as he was hitting with confidence not seen for a long time. His backhand looked as good as ever and he is back inside the top-10.
Indian Wells has changed the Surface Provider
The BNP Paribas Open, played in Indian Wells, United States, has changed their surface provider from Plexipave to Laykold. The tournament had been using Plexipave for the last 25 years. Laykold is the same company that provides surfaces for the US Open and Miami Masters, so the usually slow conditions at Indian Wells could be quicker than before. However, the tournament is held in a desert, so it will never be particularly fast.
It also depends on the organizers, as they can add more or less sand to the acrylic, thus changing the speed of the surface. More important is how the ball will bounce. Plexipave was known for its high bounce, so players with strong topspin did well in Indian Wells in the past, like Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek, Carlos Alcaraz and Dominic Thiem, whereas Laykold is known for having lower bounce. The tournament starts from March 5th, and we shall see how much this change affects the conditions.
Main Photo Credit: Taya Gray-Desert Sun/USAToday Sports
